[GA, USA]PRIDE MAGAZINE salutes local black trans activists
The online LGBT publication PRIDE is recognizing the liberating work of 17 black transgender activists, six of which happen to be Atlanta residents. Raquel Willis, an emerging voice in local trans activism compiles the list that features Dee Dee Chamblee, Holiday Simmons, Cheryl Courtney-Evans, Tracee McDaniel, Micky Bee and Cazembe Jackson.

[IL, USA]Feelings charged between sides at District 211 meeting
Emotions were running high between opposing sides who attended the Township District 211 emergency school board meeting held Dec. 7 at James B. Conant High School to affirm or rescind their ruling upon the rights of a transgender student to use the locker room in accordance with her gender identity.

[IL, USA]Transgender deal, hearing process criticized again
Several residents of Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 attended Thursday's school board meeting to criticize both the recent agreement with the federal government on a transgender student's limited access to a girls' locker room and the process by which it was reached and reaffirmed this month.

[IN, USA]Anderson council backs local gay rights ordinance
Officials in another Indiana city have approved banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity ahead of an expected debate in the state Legislature over whether to stop allowing such local ordinances.

[TX, USA]Houston HERO Defeat Doesn't Mean End of Discrimination Protections for LGBT
In a development that made front-page news across the country, Houston voters recently repealed the city's first-ever non-discrimination ordinance. The ordinance, known as HERO (the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance), prohibited discrimination in housing, public accommodation, and employment based on race, gender, and 24 other characteristics, most of which were already protected under state and federal law. But opponents focused on HERO's protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, claiming that the transgender access provisions would allow men to masquerade as women in order to harass girls in public restrooms. Fears about "the bathroom bill" trumped any discussion of the ordinance's broader employment-related protections, and HERO was defeated.